Punk Turns 30

The Jam outside the erstwhile Starwood Club, April 14, 1978 In a wonderful and comprehensive article that is the result of having spent a year with Paul Weller , the Modfather told England's Uncut magazine about a "daft PR stunt" perpetrated by the band's US record label to "introduce" them to America. I don't know if this London bus stunt was pulled in other cities.... but it was certainly memorable - to Weller as "daft" and to me as much fun for it was my birthday and I felt as though it was part of my own party. I was surprised at what Paul Weller remembered from 30 years ago (I have pictures to goose my memory; I guess he does too - having been photographed so much) - like The Dickies opening for the Jam at the Starwood. So, this led me to recall some other PR stunts pulled by record companies to promote their punk rock bands. The Jam headline over Johnny Cougar at the Whisky a Go Go in October 1977. Highlighted is the future Kid Congo ...

Did punk rock homophobia push Darby Crash over the edge? - a documentary in production poses that question I was completely surprised to hear that the campy Hollywood restaurant, El Coyote - where so many of us punk rockers hung out and had our first restaurant cocktails without being carded - was the target of a boycott. Seems that the restaurant's owner donated money through her (Mormon) church to support California's Proposition 8, the bill seen as hateful legislation banning gay marriage. Being a couple thousand miles away from LA, I learned about this by reading it on the internet, so it must be true. I do find it terribly ironic that El Coyote, a haven for hipsters - gay and straight alike, underground anti-hero icons and the truly famous (the late Sharon Tate; current matinee idol George Clooney) - would have an owner who didn't think first about her business! Its weirdly un-Republican (and I am presuming she is a Republican, being a Mormon and supporting Pro...

On October 24 - man that seems so long ago, but it was about 3 weeks ago - Billboard Magazine held their 3rd Annual Women in Music breakfast at the swanky St. Regis Hotel in NYC, which coincided with their Women In Music issue. The music biz trade journal honored Blondie's Debbie Harry with their Icon Award, given to a woman whose art and career have blazed trails for successive generations. There is a video on the Billboard Magazine website where you can watch the interview with Debbie. One of the things she addresses is the socio-political and economic condition of New York City when Blondie first formed in the mid 1970s. New York City was on the brink of bankruptcy - total economic disaster. The City was asking the Fed for a bailout... sound familiar? The chasm between the haves and have-nots in the city was huge; the trickle down effect of rampant poverty turned the city into the dystopian, post-apocalyptic vision that paved the way for the depiction of the Big Apple as a ...

Frank Secich North East Ohio's own Frank Secich is one of those quiet, below the radar guys. You wouldn't know by looking at him that he's played in three important bands to come out of the fertile North East Ohio music scene. In the 70s, he was a member of Blue Ash, and then joined Stiv Bators in a couple of projects including a line-up I refer to as the Latter Day Dead Boys and the Stiv Bators Band that recorded Stiv's pop gem of a solo record, Disconnected. Years later, Frank formed Deadbeat Poets who have for the past year thrilled critics and fans alike with their fine wine version of power pop. What is the "fine wine version of power pop?" Well, its NOT bath tub gin! If you remember the kind of silly television commercial from the 1970s for Paul Masson wines in which the venerable actor/director/auteur Orson Welles proclaims "we will sell no wine before its time," then you know the thought process I'm taking here... If pop musi...

This is one of the images in a series I call "Pensive Darby" even though it is of a pre- Darby Crash -moniker'd Jan Paul Beahm, who, in this photo would answer to Bobby Pyn. Use whatever adjective you want for Darby Crash, the guy I knew was indeed pensive.. a thinker.. a young man with a thinking problem . He was fascinated by existentialism, a heavy sort of personal philosophy that some of history's greatest thinkers have used to try to explain and sort out the meaning of life. In reading the paper of record yesterday (as I do every day), I praised out loud the New York Times' wonderful Op-Ed piece by Nicholas Kristof entitled Obama and the War on Brains. I have often felt that there was a war on brains. I blame the war on brains for Al Gore's defeat in the 2000 Presidential Election... oh, then there was that fiasco in Florida, but who's counting? People don't seem to like it when someone knows more than they do. Maybe it is human nature, but...

Here's a little shameless self promotion - or marketing, whichever you want to call it... The holidays are fast approaching, and what better gift for the punk rock fan or collector on your gift-giving list than a gorgeous print of Blondie's Debbie Harry in her prime, made on metallic paper? Click on the photo above or here for details.

Mumps Kevin Kiely and Paul Rutner in Brother Studios, 1978 Back in 1978, the NYC punk/glam/pop band Mumps settled into Los Angeles for a spell to record some songs, play some shows and try to get a record deal. They recorded those songs in the hallowed halls of pop music's most brilliant purveyors, The Beach Boys. Brother Studios, in Santa Monica, was ground zero for Mumps, Pleasant and me for an extended period of evenings and overnights as the band and producer Earle Mankey made music together. Oh my musical hero, Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson probably had no idea the hijinx we punk rockers were playing in his place.... The irreverance of punk rock encouraged Kevin Kiely to pose for this fun photo with a Beach Boys gold record award. I found a beautiful Bluthner grand piano and sat myself down to play a little Beethoven (the adagio movement from his Pathetique Sonata... and I was impressed that Mumps guitar man Rob duPrey identified it, revealing to me his own persona...

"She's rock royalty" says a voice on the trailer for Underbelly, the movie about Punk Rock It Girl, Pleasant Gehman 's alter ego, Princess Farhana. And she is! Royalty... Pleasant introduced Billy Idol to all the LA punks.... And she and Kid Congo Powers were turned into performers by Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Pleasant, Lance Loud & me, photographed by the late great Herb Wrede Pleasant was everywhere, observing all the things that people in years to come would admire... such as the recordings, life and legacy of Lance Loud. Pleasant was best friends with all the important chick singers! I say that with tongue in cheek, but if you have followed my Unguarded Moments tour, you would have seen just how frequently Pleasant, Debbie Harry and Belinda Carlisle were photographed together... and Pleasant's presence in these private moments of punk rock's golden years are a narrative unto themself. Perhaps that's why there's been a movie made about her.... U...